You are here

4 Ways You Can Support Tomorrow’s Small Business Owners

Ask any woman who owns a small business what she does all day, and she’ll probably list a detailed itinerary of the tasks and obligations that fill her time. If you’re a small businesswoman, you might even be nodding your head in agreement. What if this month you could start doing just a little bit more?

Women’s History Month dates back to the 1980s, when it was first a weeklong celebration before being extended by a Congressional resolution.

How can we support women so they might become known or remembered during Women’s History Month? By exposing them to the world of small business as early as possible.

Committing to sharing your small business savvy with young people doesn’t have to consume your professional or personal life. Whether you can spare an afternoon or a few hours each week, options abound for busy businesswomen.

1. Invite school and scout groups to visit your business

Offer your company up to school groups or Girl Scout troops. While these visits may have a clear mission, like contributing to a learning unit or satisfying a merit badge, your presence as a business owner can make an impression on young visitors.

Invite them to ask questions about how you got into business and what you’ve learned along the way. By sharing your journey with young people, you help your community’s next generation — especially the young women — realize ways they can start their own business journey.

Don’t have a physical office, or nervous about hosting children near your business equipment? Consider speaking at career day events at local schools.

2. Start an internship program

If your business could benefit from an extra set of hands, an internship program might be a good fit for both you and a young woman in your community. Determine in what capacity an intern at the high school or college level could serve your business, along with the concepts and skills you can teach them, before putting out a call for applications.

A few things to consider: you’ll need to pay your intern and consider labor laws, and you might need to carry worker’s compensation for an intern.

3. Attend women’s networking events

Business events, whether social mixers, pitch nights or panel talks, can be intimidating for women who may feel outnumbered by male entrepreneurs. Women business owners can attend these events for support, or take the next step to serve as speakers, judges or hosts. Men, you’re still welcome at (most) events geared toward women in business — your interest in and applause for women’s business ventures is appreciated!

4. Start mentoring young women in business

Few types of people are as encouraging to new and aspiring business owners than mentors. By sharing a delicate mix of tough love and cheerleading, your insight can help other business owners make better decisions for their own ventures.

Learn more about becoming a SCORE mentor. Don’t think you have time for a formal mentoring commitment? Start by offering a fellow woman business owner in your neighborhood your time over a cup of coffee, or answer that email that’s been sitting in your inbox from a student asking to pick your brain.

About the Author(s)

Bridget Weston Pollack is the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at the SCORE Association.